Put your crypto toward a good cause

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A good way to give back. Did you know you could donate noncash assets (besides your skinny jeans)? The Giving Block makes it easy for young investors to donate crypto and stocks to thousands of vetted nonprofits, charities, universities, faith-based groups, and other mission-driven organizations you care about. Learn more.

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There are many options out there for anyone who wants to support charitable organizations on Giving Tuesday. Some people will give a one-time monetary gift while others set up recurring monthly donations (organizations tend to prefer this kind of giving for monthly budgeting purposes). You might also consider volunteering or making an in-kind donation of clothing, furniture, or other gently used items. Or, you can donate cryptocurrency.

Why do people donate crypto? Isn’t the whole point to, like, HODL until the value of your investment reaches moon-level heights? Well, we’re not advising you to sell your crypto at a loss—we’re suggesting that if your investment has appreciated and you want to give back, there are more organizations than you might think that would appreciate a crypto gift.

(And as a bonus, when you donate crypto, you might end up with a bigger tax break than you would when you donate cash.)

The IRS considers digital assets like cryptocurrency as property, which means you can deduct the fair market value of the property on your taxes—just like if you donated a car, for example. And when you donate your crypto rather than sell it, you may avoid paying capital gains tax on some of your crypto investment growth (woo-hoo!).

When you work through a crypto donation platform, you can quickly and securely pass your cryptocurrency along to one of the thousands of nonprofits eager to put it to good use—including big name organizations like the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, Feeding America, and the National Black Chamber of Commerce.

Before you make your donation, use a service like Charity Navigator to ensure that your chosen organization is doing good work with their donor funds—and take some time to browse the cryptocurrency tax resources offered through the IRS, including how to calculate the charitable giving deduction associated with your crypto gift. It’s also not a bad idea to sign up with a tax software program that can handle crypto, such as TaxAct, TaxBit, or ZenLedger.

By donating some of the growth you’ve received on your crypto investments, you’ll also become part of a growing group of young crypto philanthropists—many of whom are financially savvy and ready to make major contributions to the world. Whether you got into crypto because you believe in the power of decentralized currency or you bought crypto for its investment potential, you probably understand there are plenty of opportunities to generate value through cryptocurrency—and just as many ways to share that value with others.

According to The Giving Block, crypto donors reportedly contributed about $400 million in cryptocurrency to charities and nonprofits in 2021. (Of that amount, $69 million was processed through The Giving Block, with the average donation coming out to $10,455.) But if you don’t have that much to give, don’t let that stop you—every donation makes a difference, and so does every bitcoin. ₿—Nicole Dieker, Money Scoop guest columnist